The Lightning Snake
by Phoenix Oblivion
Summary: We all know that Harry Potter was placed in Gryffindor and Ron Weasley was his best friend... but what if his best friend was Draco Malfoy? What if Harry Potter was put in Slytherin? Read on and find out!


**Author's Note: I mostly write Warrior Cats fanfictions, but I've read Harry Potter and I just had to write this down. So, welcome into an entirely new Harry Potter universe! Just a quick warning, there is one made up character in Slytherin, but she's the only one. Please read and review. **

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Harry's heart thumped in his throat: the whole of Hogwarts was watching, waiting to see which house he would be put in. All of the students were curious; even the teacher's were craning their heads to get a good look at him. Harry could barely stand the tension burning in his stomach as Mrs McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat over his head.

There were a few moments of silence. Each one were the worst of Harry's life. And suddenly, he could hear a small voice, calling at the back of his head. "Hmmm," it mumbled. "I see a lot of potential... bravery- loyalty- and a strong thirst to prove yourself. Talent resides as well, but no just that, I can also sense a slight tinge of ambition." The moment kept Harry silent. He couldn't move, he couldn't even breathe. He glued to the spot, entranced the Sorting Hat's whispering voice. "Maybe I should put you Hufflepuff, you've got the loyalty. No, maybe Ravenclaw because of your unmistakable skill... Gryffindor? Yes, I think that _would_ be a good choice, but at the end of the day, I think we both know where to put you, don't we, Harry Potter?" A small memory echoed into Harry's mind. It was of the last house. Slytherin. The name sent a very slight twitch of pain to his scar, but Harry resisted the urge to touch the lightning bolt on his forehead. "Better be," the hat finally began to speak so the rest of the hall could hear. "SLYTHERIN!"

Harry could hardly hear the massive uproar of joy that echoed from the Slytherin table: he wasn't paying attention. His legs felt weak, every part of his body felt weak as he slowly got up and made his way towards the boys and girls wearing green and black robes. He felt vigorous and excited hands shaking his own; others just patted him on the back as he sat down next to the other first years who had been put in Slytherin. One of them in particular caught his eye. It was the skinny boy with short blond hair that he had met in Diagon Alley. "Hello again," Harry said, a note of happiness in his voice. He couldn't help feeling overjoyed that he was now an accepted student of Hogwarts.

"Yes," the boy said. He sounded cold and slightly arrogant. "If I had known that I had been talking to Harry Potter in Madam Milkin's... well, I'm Draco Malfoy," he finished on a slightly warmer note. "And these are my friends," Draco gestured to two huge, well muscled boys who were attempting (and failing) to smile at him, "Crabbe and Goyle."

"Not much point in introducing myself," Harry joked. Draco didn't seem like the person to laugh; he emitted a strange kind of grin that didn't fit his face. Crabbe and Goyle did the same. Harry turned his head until he was facing the High Table were all the teacher's sat. Professor McGonagall, who Draco told me was the head of Gryffindor house, now sitting down, and Harry didn't know what to make of her now he had a good look at her. She looked strict, so maybe she was a teacher to avoid. He also saw Quirrel, the teacher he had met in Diagon Alley with a ridiculously large purple turban. But there was one teacher in particular that caught his eye. A man who had the same pale skin as Draco, except with long black hair and a crooked nose, he caught Harry's eye, as if he was inspecting him. The man, almost simultaneously with noticing Harry, sent a quick wink in his direction.

"That's Professor Snape," Draco whispered. "Potion Master and also head of Slytherin House. But I suppose your more interested in the oaf Hagrid now," he sneered.

Harry turned towards his fellow Slytherin and glared at him for a moment, before deciding that it would probably be a bad idea to protest. Draco would probably release the horrors of Crabbe and Goyle's fists straight into his face. Besides, maybe Malfoy wouldn't be too bad if they became friends. Instead Harry turned back to look at the High Table. Hagrid sent him a smile which Harry returned.

"Welcome, welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" the booming voice of Albus Dumbledore shot across the room, immediately, the talk died. It was replaced by a silence which demonstrated the power Dumbledore had at Hogwarts. "As usual, I have a few announcements to make. First years should note that it is absolutely forbidden to enter the Forest on the outside of the grounds. Argus Filch, our school caretaker, would also like to remind you that no magic should be performed in the school corridors. The Quidditch championship will of course take place this year as usual, and finally-" the eyes behind his half moon glasses darted mysteriously around the room, "the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds, for anyone who doesn't want to suffer a most painful death. Thank you."

An eerie silence fell over the students, that is, until the food appeared. Quite suddenly, the enjoyment and excitement shot back into the air and everyone hungrily started grab the delicious looking food. Harry had never seen or eaten quite so amazing in his life! But then again, he had lived in the _Dursley's_ house for eleven years. And that was when the ghost appeared, right from under the table. Harry dropped his fork, Draco jumped a little in his seat and a girl that Harry sisn't know screamed. "Hello Slytherins," the ghost said in a croaky and sly voice. "I'm the Bloody Baron, your house ghost. I do hope you don't let us down this year, I'll have to stop bragging about it."

"Br, bragging about what?" Harry said, slightly nervous towards the ghost. All of the ghost's robes were completely covered in blood.

"Well winning the house cup, of course!" The Bloody Baron snapped, brandishing his sword in the air. Draco flinched. "Slytherin house have won it for six years in a row. If we don't win this year, I shall never hear the end of it from all the houses," he sent a threatening glare at the ghost floating by the Gryffindor table, before flying off into the air, cackling in that horrible throaty voice to himself.

"Something tells me that the Bloody Baron doesn't like _him," _Harry whispered to Draco, pointing towards the rather jolly looking ghost now only a few metres from where the two of them where sitting.

"My father told me that was Nearly Headless Nick," Malfoy said, obviously feeling more confident: the arrogant sneer was back in his voice. "He sometimes pulls his head right onto his shoulder." Draco gave Harry a nasty smile. Almost simultaneously, the ghost did exactly what Malfoy had said. A red-haired boy on the Gryffindor table leapt back in shock and a girl with large bushy hair looked away, disgusted. Harry recognised because they had introduced themselves on the train. Ronald and Hermione was what he thought they had said. Harry shrugged, and, his appetite back, started to tuck into the food once more.

Harry found to his surprise that once you had eaten everything on your plate, the food vanished right in front of your eyes. It was only when the same thing had happened to every student in place when Dumbledore once again stood up. "Well, now that were all fed and watered, I think it's about time that we all went to bed. Off you go! Prefects, would you all lead the first years to their dormitories." A large, slightly intimidating fifth year stood up and signalled for all the first years to follow. When they left the great hall behind all the Ravenclaws, Draco walked up ahead with Crabbe and Goyle in tow, leaving Harry with the Slytherin girl, who still looked thoroughly shaken by the Bloody Baron.

"Are you okay?" he said, concerned. Harry had never liked watching being upset and not helping, and anyway, he was curious. Harry hadn't been introduced to this girl yet.

"I'm fine," she said, quietly. She looked up, saw that Harry Potter was talking to her and suddenly looked flustered. "Oh, uh, it's you. Um, sorry, it's just that-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Harry exclaimed, immediately remembering that he was famous among witches and wizards. "Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just trying to help, you're obviously upset." There was a moment of awkward silence, where it was obvious from the expression on the girl's face that she was worried and slightly curious at the same time.

"I just... have a thing about ghosts, "she sighed; Harry could sense the utter sadness lacing her voice. "Well, your Harry Potter then!" she said, changing the subject. "I was kind of born in a muggle family, so I only heard of you when I started reading books about the wizarding world. You're in The Rise and Fall of Dark Arts book." There was a slight hint of admiration in her voice.

"Here here," Harry replied lightly. "I didn't even know I was _famous_ until I got my letter! I lived in a muggle family for ten years too by the way. I thought I was going to be the worst in the class, still, I suppose it's better when you know that you're in a house and you're an accepted member of Hogwarts."

"Not for me," the girl said bitterly. "Everyone I've met told me that Slytherin was the house for people who turn out evil and are really ambitious. I'm not ambitious! Why did the Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin?"

Harry felt curious to this fact as well. To be honest, he had never considered himself to be ambitious either, and the Sorting Hat had seemed to be putting him in Gryffindor, but had changed his mind last minute and put him in Slytherin. "Well, I suppose we all have hidden talents," Harry said, trying to cheer the girl up. She simply kept on walking, but Harry could see the smile on her face. "As you know, I'm Harry Potter, who are you?" he asked.

The girl properly looked Harry in the face this time so the boy could get a good look at her. She had long, ginger hair that flowed right down to her shoulders. The brands were silky and had been straightened, that much was clear. Her eyes were a deep hazel brown and she had a slight oriental dip in the face, as if she was staring at the ground a little more than she supposed to. "I'm Lucy Smith," she said. "Pleased to meet you."

"Pleased to meet you too," Harry replied shaking her hand.

"Come on Slytherins, KEEP UP!" the prefect let out a large shout that bellowed around the corridors. Harry and Lucy ran forward as quickly as possible to catch up with other students. Lucy was quickly lost in a thick crowd of girls and Harry found himself next to Malfoy once more.

"Where did you get too?" Draco sniffed, his nose high in the air. Harry didn't answer; he just kept his eyes straight ahead. The corridors and passageways of Hogwart's seemed to be endless, maybe he would get lost and never find his way back to the common room... he didn't even know where the common room was yet. Draco seemed to be reading his mind, because he starting telling Harry about the Slytherin home. "My father told me that it was quite low down when it comes to this school. Some of the towers stretch so far up that you can see tiny mountain tops in the distance. It's got a lot of candles because it would be too dark otherwise, and there are lots of statues of snakes here and there, sounds quite comfortable." Harry wasn't that sure whether he agreed with Draco, but he would have to get used to it if he didn't anyway. The prefect suddenly stopped right in front of an intimidating picture of a knight in armour. All of the first years were confused for a moment, but then it started talking! Harry's eyes widened and Crabbe and Goyle stared at it rather stupidly.

"Password?" it asked grumpily, as if it had been woken up.

"Paselmouth," the prefect answered quickly. "Now open up," he snapped. "We haven't got all night." The picture muttered something about how everyone was so rude these days, before turning to the left as if on hinge to reveal a cold, damp looking place. Draco and his cronies stepped in eagerly, Harry less so. The candles were pretty much the thing that illuminated the Slytherin common room, and apart from a few sofas and maybe a table or two, it seemed practically empty. But, there, on the other side of the room, were two large doors. The boys and girls got split up into two groups and sent into different rooms, boys on the right and girls on the left. He caught Lucy's eye as she entered her dormitory. Harry mouthed, _it will be fine_. Lucy still didn't seem so sure, and to be honest, neither was Harry. He selected a bed near Draco's and next to a boy he knew to be Zabini Blaise, and, after changing quickly into his pyjamas, got into the covers. Someone blew out the candle and suddenly Harry fell into an uneasy sleep, poisoned by nightmares of what punishments he might have to endure in the year he was about to spend at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizadry.

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**Author's Note: Hope you guys enjoyed it! Tell me what you think, did you like the idea?**

**Yes, I did create Lucy, but I wanted Harry to at least have a half decent friend at Hogwart's. So yeah... again, please RR.**


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